Many people enjoy nothing more on a hot day than partaking in their favorite ice cold prepackaged beverage refreshments. Whatever one's taste, such drinks are usually consumed via a glass, bottle or can. To keep these drinks cold, many people resort to the use of insulated beverage holders, made of foam, that slip over the drink container. These holders have become widely used as a convenient method of insulating the cold drink from the warmer ambient temperature and the drinker's warm hand, thus keeping the drink cold longer. They also provide a comfortable alternative to gripping a cold and often wet drink container. However, after enough time, unfortunately any drink will become warm giving rise to the displeasure of unsuspecting consumers drinking warm and unappealing beverages. While these holders slow the warming of beverages, they lack any means of indicating to the consumer the temperature of the beverage.
Various attempts have been made to provide a means of indicating the present temperature of a beverage container. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,319,101, issued in the name of Anderson, describes a bottle construction with temperature indicator having a thermometer built into a side wall of the bottle. The side wall of the Anderson bottle is constructed to uniformly vary in thickness to the point of location of the thermometer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,373, issued in the name of Hutchinson, describes a thermochromatic indicator for beverage containers. The Hutchinson indicator provides a temperature sensing assembly in the form of a thermometer and a temperature scale that is attachable to a beverage container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,207, issued in the name of Hartmann, describes a beverage temperature notification device. The Hartmann device comprises a thermosensor which is held in place by a sleeve to determine the temperature of the beverage. The thermosensor is coupled to a temperature indicator which signals to a user when the beverage has reached a desired temperature.
Additionally, ornamental designs for temperature measuring containers exist, particularly, U.S. Pat. No. D 343,129. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
While these attempts fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each suffers from one (1) or more deficiencies or disadvantages. Typically temperature sensors placed on the beverage containers can be influenced by the ambient temperature as much as temperature of the container. Additionally, while the sensors may provide indication of present beverage temperature they do nothing to slow the warming of the beverage. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which the temperature of a cold beverage container can be readily determined while insulating the beverage from the ambient warm conditions without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.